Jesus’ Theocratic Ministry School Closure

Thursday, December 3

He called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to cure diseases. And he sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal.—Luke 9:1, 2.

In the first century, the King-Designate gave his disciples clear directions on what, where, and how to preach. Following this pattern today, Jesus sees to it that all who share in the Kingdom-preaching work receive instructions and have the tools they need to preach effectively. Through the Christian congregation, Jesus is training his subjects for the ministry. One way he trains them is by means of the Theocratic Ministry School, which is conducted in each of the more than 111,000 congregations throughout the earth. By taking advantage of this instruction, more than seven million preachers are now equipped to preach and teach in a way that appeals to “people of all sorts.”

COMMENTARY

One has to wonder if the brothers who write up these daily text comments even know what is going on at Bethel. Or perhaps they no longer even care about their own credibility. Maybe their hubris has finally reached critical mass? This, because in less than four weeks the Theocratic Ministry School is scheduled to go the way of the home-centered book study. So, the time left to take “advantage of this instruction” is definitely limited.

Jehovah’s Witnesses can justifiably be confused. Obviously the Daily Text for 2015 was put together in 2014. But even so, that brings up the question of why the GB hastily decided to drop the TMS?

Although the Watchtower asserts that Christ has been using the school to train students for the ministry, what conclusion can be drawn from the fact that the Governing Body has unceremoniously junked the program? Has Jesus curtailed the training of millions of ministers? Or is there something else going on? Time will tell. But more than likely there were lawyers involved in the decision to scrap the training program Jesus was been using for the past 65 years.

As regards “the King-Designate” sending out the 70 with instructions to declare that the Kingdom has drawn near, it is note-worthy that the disciples really had no idea what the Kingdom of God even was. They imagined it was going to be an earthly kingdom that would throw off the Roman yoke and restore Israel to its former glory. Nevertheless, although Jesus was surely aware of their ignorance he still entrusted them with his message. It was not until after Jesus was resurrected that he opened up their minds to grasp the truth regarding the Kingdom.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are in a similar position relative to the second coming as were the disciples before Jesus was put to death. Millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses have been deluded into imagining that the powerful Kingdom of God has been ruling for the past century. Only Christ can disabuse Jehovah’s Witnesses and bring them out from under the powerful, deluding influence that dominates presently.

Perhaps it is just as well the Theocratic Ministry School is gone. There is something much better coming.